Insights and attitude about PR, journalism and traditional and social media.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We All Live in a Genre World -- It's a Matter of Choosing What Genre to Live, or to Write

Funny essay in the New York Times Book Review about literary genres.

Seems there really are just a handful of genres. In "What to Write Next," by author Colson Whitehead, author of “The Intuitionist” (ist) and “John Henry Days” (encyclopedic), quickly identifies the mainstream different literary genres.

He did not, alas, identify different genres or styles among bloggers, which I will start to do here, albeit not as humorously:

Self-expressive: more like a diary open to the public.

Humorous.

Hobbyist.

Professional. Opinions and insight into a sector.

How-to: focusing on specific functions or sectors, covering all industries.

Get-Rich-Quick. Which often are used to sell get-rich-quick solutions from the blog's author.

Political: across the spectrum. Some like to fact-check opposing perspectives (i.e., point out wholes or inconsistencies).

Opinion, Political: often without original reporting.

Mommy -- there are some Daddy bloggers, but seems to be far fewer than Mommy bloggers.